Apple is reportedly adding cameras to AirPods, ear hair be damned.
The $3 trillion company plans to mass produce redesigned earbuds with built-in infrared cameras by 2026, according to a report. new report According to Ming-Chi Kuo, a longtime Apple analyst and insider, these cameras could help Apple bolster its current and future augmented reality headsets with enhanced spatial audio features, the analyst wrote.
Citing a supply chain study, Kuo said pairing these improved headphones with the Vision Pro glasses could make Apple’s spatial computing experience more realistic. For example, “if users turn their heads to look in a specific direction, the sound source in that direction can be accentuated,” the analyst said.
For those not interested in purchasing Apple headphones, infrared cameras could offer other benefits, including the ability to make “in-air” gestures on the AirPods, according to Kuo. The infrared module could be similar to the receiver that powers Apple’s facial recognition feature, FaceID.
The analyst’s report follows a previous history from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who noted that Apple was exploring the idea of camera-powered AirPods.
If Apple does indeed integrate cameras into its headphones, it would continue a long-standing trend for the tech giant. After turning its minimalist white earbuds into a status symbol in the iPod era, Apple has gradually made them smarter over the years, adding features like wireless connectivity, noise cancellation, head tracking, touch controls and voice commands.
We also talked about AirPods with health tracking featuresbut Apple has not yet released such a feature. Perhaps it was for the best; Amazfit, for example, fall flat when it integrated fitness tracking into its Powerbuds Pro in 2021. Even dedicated fitness brands, such as Fitbit and Garmin, have shied away from putting advanced health-tracking technology in users’ ears.
